About Us

Vision

The Tristate Trauma Network unifies state, regional, and local efforts in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana relating to trauma and toxic stress. It convenes diverse sectors of the community to establish a shared understanding of the causes of trauma and toxic stress, as well as the solutions to reducing their prevalence and impact. It serves as a catalyst for collaborative efforts to prevent and address trauma, helps all voices be heard, and engages all sectors of the community in working together.

Mission

The mission of the Tristate Trauma Network (TTN) is to create a community-wide commitment to the prevention of and recovery from trauma and toxic stress by building awareness, offering high-quality training to professionals, serving as a clearinghouse for information and resources, fostering collaboration, and developing trauma-informed, trauma-responsive systems of care.

Our History

With growing local interest in issues of trauma, a group of agencies was convened by Janice Bogner at Interact for Health to explore ideas for collaboration around capacity building for trauma-informed care. Participants expressed the need for a regional entity that could bring stakeholders together to connect and collaborate around issues of trauma. This interest led to an application and award of a planning grant from Interact for Health in 2013 to explore resources that exist in the region and identify the needs and gaps that local agencies experience.

The Management Team for the planning grant established an Advisory Network that grew to encompass 152 people from 66 different organizations. This Advisory Group came together for quarterly meetings from May 2013 to February 2014 to identify the strengths, opportunities, and gaps in our community’s response to trauma and toxic stress. Surveys, in-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted with individuals and organizations that currently have a significant stake in supporting people who have experienced trauma. This research yielded four areas of need in our community: Systems of Care, Training, Clearinghouse and Collaboration as seen in the table.

The Tristate Trauma Network Business Plan, focused on addressing these needs, was submitted to Interact for Health in March 2014, and a start-up grant was awarded in January 2015. The first Executive Director of the Tristate Trauma Network was hired on May 19, 2015 to begin the execution of the Business Plan. In June 2015, an additional start-up grant was awarded by The Greater Cincinnati Foundation. We are thankful for the support of Interact for Health, The Greater Cincinnati Foundation and The Daniel and Susan Pfau Foundation to be able to begin to carry out the mission of the TTN.

Goals

Trauma-Informed System of Care Development
-Plan and execute an annual Trauma-Informed Care Conference in collaboration with other entities working to further trauma-informed care in the region.
-Develop a plan, beginning with agency assessment, for assisting organizations in becoming more trauma-informed in their approaches to both consumers and staff.

Education & Training
-Offer affordable, quality training on trauma-responsive treatment approaches, utilizing local experts as trainers whenever possible.
-Create a Trauma Training Certification Program for professionals.
-Increase awareness of trauma and toxic stress and their effects on short-and long-term health in the community by disseminating information at various levels to the community at-large.

Clearinghouse Development
-Establish a TTN website with a links to trauma resources & upcoming trauma training, both locally and nationally.
-Send out a monthly newsletter to share information about local trainings, resources, best practices, and current research about trauma and resilience related topics.